Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums delivers his first state of the city address at the Marriott hotel in downtown Oakland, CA on Monday evening, January 14, 2008.Photo by Michael Maloney / The Chronicle

Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums delivers his first state of the city address at the Marriott hotel in downtown Oakland, CA on Monday evening, January 14, 2008.Photo by Michael Maloney / The Chronicle

Photo: Michael Maloney, SFC

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Photo: Bruce Friedrich, AP

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Economy not the root of Oakland's crime

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Editor - I wish to thank Chip Johnson for lambasting another idiotic pronouncement from the mayor's office ("Dellums has it all wrong on the cause of robberies at Oakland restaurants" Aug. 19). To hear our so-called mayor blame criminal acts on the state of the economy is as far off the mark as it is insulting to law-abiding citizens.

Because just this week I lost my part-time college teaching job (due to insufficient enrollment), I guess I can now start sticking up people with impunity. After all, I have the best justification, right?

And I suppose that my poor Vietnamese friend, whose small computer-repair business in East Oakland was held up at gunpoint by three thugs this morning, has no reason to complain, either. I think that both he and his 7-year-old son will just have to get over their terror. After all, it's Oakland, and the thieves aren't really to blame, are they? It's that damn economy.

As one who lives in the middle of a West Oakland war zone, I am as scandalized by the mayor's wrongheaded insensitivity as I am by his complete lack of leadership. How tragic his administration has been for the people of Oakland.

Speier, for a change

Obama keeps harping on bringing some changes to Washington politics, and the manner in which business is conducted in this country by our elected congressmen and executive branch.

In Speier, he's got a person who can help him bring on the needed changes. She seems to go against the established way of doing business to move things in new directions. That is exactly what Obama requires in people who will work with him in the White House.

Rivals, not enemies

Editor - Sen. John McCain's character assassination of Sen. Barack Obama has got to stop. It's one thing to sling the political mud, but constantly questioning Obama's patriotism is not only crossing the line of good taste, it's un-American. Because in these United States, we're not supposed to equate electoral rivals with our enemies, especially in a time of war. McCain is better than that.

With these continued, outrageous comments, McCain is dishonoring his whole history of serving this country as a brave POW and senator. It just shows how desperate he is and, unfortunately, how dirty he's willing to play.

Obama has staunchly refused to stoop to this level. It's time for McCain to do the same. Let's move the debate to the real issues our nation faces, and end this cowardly and shameful name-calling. This is the only way McCain can restore any semblance of integrity to his campaign.

RICHARD MARRACQ

Redwood City

Fanning the flames

Editor - Wow, another front-page article about immigration in The Chronicle ("Panel sticks up for immigrant juvenile felons," Aug. 19). Of course, it's a controversial one.

I hope that The Chronicle realizes that it is playing to the tune of the anti-immigrant, nativist and often racist segment of our society that is intent on criminalizing the other, the foreigner, the immigrant - and of making immigration the hot-button issue of 2008.

In praise of Bayh

Editor - I must object to David Sirota's rant on Indiana's Sen. Evan Bayh ("Will Obama wave bye to Bayh?" Aug. 15). A few specifics will illustrate.

Bayh led the fight to better protect our troops by authoring legislation mandating that the Pentagon purchase as many as 8,500 up armored Humvees. He extended tax benefits to approximately 30 million Americans when he worked to create a $1,000 deduction for property taxpayers who do not itemize. He has worked with Indiana's senior senator to pass legislation to create an international nuclear fuel bank, providing a safe supply of civilian nuclear energy to developing countries willing to abide by conditions that protect global security.

I could go on, but only wish to inject some level of balance to the pages of The Chronicle concerning Indiana's junior senator.

Good-bye to a puppet

Editor - I found Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's departure so sad. He looked so cuddly in his little military haircut, his Western-style suit and his cute little spectacles. Didn't you just want to hug him?

This leaves a lot of hard work for the Bush administration, as good puppet dictators are hard to come by. If we do not do something, there is a real danger that democracy will rise up in Pakistan, with no outside help! We can't have this.

We must do something, like destabilize the entire region, or expand the Ossetian disaster to Central Asia. Perhaps we could bribe the Bhutto clan with a humungous Swiss bank account. We must have a new puppet dictator in Pakistan, for how else can the United States spread our brand of democracy over the entire planet?

Spreading ill will

Editor -Thank you for Frank H. Wu's piece Aug. 20, "A mockery of Olympic ideals." What a shameful display by the Spanish at an most inappropriate venue for that kind of conduct.

Is the nation of Spain, its people and culture so devoid of any positive image of itself that it has to resort to mocking others in front of the world for entertainment? Do they think this type of behavior earns them respect or goodwill for Spaniards throughout the world? Their response to those who have responsibly pointed out the error of their ways makes their act all the more despicable.

An old Chinese proverb my mother told me was, "You can draw the image of a person, bones and skin, but you can never draw what's inside a person's heart."

Let them turn around

Editor - Proposition 2 on the Nov. 4 ballot is a very modest measure that would stop some of the cruelest practices of factory farming.

For example, caged egg-laying hens have less space than a sheet of letter-sized paper on which to live for more than a year before they are slaughtered. Many of them die and get seriously ill in their confinements. Some animals cannot even walk anymore because their bones have become so weak. The ballot initiative simply ensures that pigs, calves and hens would be able to at least turn around in their cages and extend their limbs.

In my opinion, this is the least we owe to farm animals. The egg and meat lobby is pumping millions of dollars into a campaign to convince California voters against the initiative and to keep their big profit margins. Californians, hopefully, will follow other states and vote to ban the cruelest factory farming practices most of us are not even aware of - for the protection of our own health and safety, our beautiful state and our animals.